Apocrita Parasitica Megalyridae
by UberNimrod
Summary: The World Tree is among the most powerful living magical beings there is. The magic it produces helps to protect Mahora Academy from those that would take its riches and knowledge for themselves. But what protects the protector? Warning: There shall be Squick.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Negima does not belong to me. It belongs to Ken Akamatsu. But he graciously lets all of us play with his characters and put them in situations much to our amusement.

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Chapter 1 Prelude

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_I reject your reality and substitute my own._ – Adam Savage

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_Yeah! What he said!_ – Me

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Haruna was proud of their work, even if she was tired.

Between her, Nodoka and Yue, they had drilled a dozen holes into the trunk of the World Tree, with Yue doing most of the work. Now all that was needed was some taps with bucket golems attached. She immediately started drawing them, keeping in mind that they needed to exist for at least a full day to get any sap from the tree.

She was giggling to herself when Nodoka managed to get her attention. "Paru? Are you almost done?"

"I hope so. I'm tired of standing up here."

"Calm down Yue." Haruna said without looking up from her artifact. "I'm making sure these don't disappear during the day. Come forth!"

With a flash of light, twelve buckets and taps appeared on the ground by Haruna. As Nodoka grabbed two buckets and taps, Haruna stood up and grabbed two more to carry to the tree.

"Go ahead and lower the rope Yue." Nodoka called upward.

Nodoka's call was answered quickly by the end of a rope making its way to the ground like a snake crawling down the side of the tree. When it was low enough, Nodoka tied the buckets to the end, and placed the taps inside one of the buckets. "Ok Yue."

Yue pulled the rope as Haruna and Nodoka watched the buckets slowly rise into the air. A moment later, Yue's voice traveled downward. "How do I get these things into the World Tree?"

"Oh! You need a hammer to tap the taps in. Give me a minute."

Just like that Haruna summoned a hammer from her artifact. Before Nodoka could stop her, she tossed it up into the air. "Catch Yue!"

"What? OW!" cried Yue as Nodoka scampered out of the way to avoid the hammer's return to earth.

"You're supposed to catch that." Haruna called when the hammer landed several feet from her.

"I did catch it. With my knee. Let me lower the rope again and you tie it on there this time?"

"Try again. Catch!" Haruna threw the hammer upward again, only for it to return downward. Nodoka had moved to a safe distance from her friend and watched as the hammer landed with a thud.

"I can't move off this branch to catch it. Just tie it to the rope so you don't hit me with it?" The rope slid downward as Yue spoke.

"Oh, sure. Be that way." Haruna said with a smile.

After the hammer was tied to the rope and lifted up, Haruna called upward again, "It should only take a couple of hits to seat the taps into the holes Yue. The site I read said to be careful to not split the bark or else the sap will leak around the tap instead of going into the bucket."

"I'm still wondering why you are doing this at all." Yue said as she hung the bucket on the first tap.

"You'll see if this works as I hope." Haruna said.

Eventually, Yue finished hanging the buckets and dropped onto the air mattress that Haruna had drawn for her to land on. As she climbed off, Haruna looked at her with a thoughtful expression on her face.

Yue did not fail to notice this. "Do I want to know what you are thinking now Paru?"

"I'm thinking we are going to need a better way to retrieve the buckets other than climbing the World Tree again. It worked today, but that was only because we were drilling the holes. Tomorrow I am going to borrow a harness from the Library Exploration Club, so we can use it with the rope." Haruna replied.

"You mean the rope you 'borrowed' from the Club?" Yue asked.

"I intend to give them back, so borrowing would be the correct term." Haruna said.

Yue sighed, "Between you 'borrowing' things and the **Artifact Abuse** you've performed recently, I'm wondering when karma is going to catch up with you."

Haruna threw her arm around Yue's shoulder, "The Great Paru shall not be deterred by such trivial things as karma."

Nodoka watched her friends with a smile on her face. This had become part of the daily routine between them.

As the trio went back to the dorms with the gentle glow of the World Tree helping light the path, no one noticed the faint brightening of color at the very top that lasted for several hours.

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Nimrod Notes

I will likely place Author Notes at the end of the chapter, much like this. I doubt that there will be much I feel like adding, but you never know.

For the record, this idea has been bouncing around in my head for a little while now. What I needed to start writing this was an opening. 'It was a dark and stormy night' might work for Snoopy of Charlie Brown fame, but not for me. When I reread **Artifact Abuse** by Japanese Teeth, it set things into motion. Japanese Teeth gave me permission to use that as a springboard for this story. Go read it as it is entertaining.

I will warn you now. There shall be Squick. Very graphic, extremely detailed Squick. The Squick will not start to seriously happen for a while yet, but it will happen. That is the reason for the M rating. Those of you with weak stomachs should stop reading now, and perhaps browse Ala Iridia's works, or my tamer material. They really are quite good.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Negima does not belong to me. It belongs to Ken Akamatsu. But he graciously lets all of us play with his characters. Has anyone thanked him for this? Thank you Mr. Akamatsu for letting us use our imaginations on characters you created to tell stories of our own.

Datclaimer: Go read chapters 10 through 13 of **Artifact Abuse** by Japanese Teeth if you haven't already. It will help with understanding the setup behind this story.

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Chapter 2 Summoning

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_Think about this the next time you take the shears to that dinosaur-shaped hedge in your backyard: Science is discovering that some plants have the ability to summon and command insects like some lesser known X-Men character._ – 8 Things You Won't Believe Plants Do When No One's Looking – CrackedDOTcom

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The day went by as normal; classes, then Library Exploration Club business, followed by training with Evangeline in her resort, then food and rest outside the resort. Once darkness fell, it was time to recover the buckets of sap. After more unintended abuse of Yue by Haruna, the buckets were carried back to the dorms and the process of making syrup started.

The World Tree glowed brighter in its highest branches again after the trio departed. This time however, the unusual glow was observed by several people, all of whom happened to be on patrol around Mahora. Among the observers were Setsuna and Mana, each seeing the glow from different positions along their route. Both reported the glow to their superiors later that night. As is proper, the information flowed up the chain of command until the report of the unusual glow was passed along to the Headmaster. He merely nodded at the news, admitting that he had seen it for himself as he looked out his office window. When asked why the tree was glowing, the Headmaster admitted that he was unsure of the cause.

Haruna slept as Yue and Nodoka performed the tedious process. Mahora slept as the World Tree performed a different tedious process. Three and a half hours later, the Library trio were rewarded with a bottle of World Tree syrup ready to be tested on pancakes in the morning. A half hour later, a small rift opened near the top of the World Tree and through it came something that hovered nearby for several minutes before flying away unseen.

Following the aftermath of testing the World Tree syrup, both Nodoka and Haruna were resting in their respective beds, which gave Yue time to go to Library Island as there was no school that day.

'Maybe I can get some of the indexing done. Or at least, sort out priorities for the indexing. Obviously, the older books need to be indexed first.' she thought as she looked up at the sky. 'I better hurry. It will get dark in just over two and a half hours. Time enough maybe for a couple of stacks of books.'

She entered the Library and after nodding to several people, went upstairs. After climbing to the top floor, she made her way around several bookshelves to a door labeled 'Custodial Supplies'. More than a few janitorial crews had commented that it was a nuisance that the keys had been lost to that door, even if they didn't need many supplies to just vacuum the rugs and clean the shelves and tables. Beside the 'Custodial Supplies' door were two more doors to two private reading rooms. These doors had tape over them with signs saying 'Under Repair'. They had been so marked, even before Yue, Nodoka and Haruna had joined the Club.

Yue knew the truth though. The Library Exploration Club had commandeered the rooms for their own use some time ago. Originally used as a base of operations for novice members, the three small rooms had been combined into one room that was used as a sorting room for the various books discovered among the lower levels of the library. Most of the books found were brought up to be indexed with some exceptions. Damaged books were placed in a different room to be repaired, or recopied as needed.

It was a time-consuming process, not to mention inefficient. Bringing books up from the lower levels to the top floor to be indexed then re-shelved in the lower levels was tedious work. Indeed, such had been realized by the top individuals in the Library Exploration Club sometime earlier.

Shortly after she learned of the existence of Magic, Yue had been unsurprised to discover that the books the junior members indexed in the room on the top floor were 'safe' for them to look at. None of them contained any spells or any hints suggesting Magic existed. The majority of the books brought up from below were sorted and indexed in the basement level that housed the main headquarters of the Club.

That made sense. It was designed so that the newest members and those not involved with Magic could not accidentally wander into the main sorting area and see something they shouldn't. Considering that the only junior members were Konoka, Nodoka, Haruna as well as herself, she really could not blame those in charge. Yue might be a member of the Baka Rangers, but that didn't mean she was really a baka. She just hated to study. Nodoka was no slouch either when it came to intelligence. As for Haruna and Konoka, they acted less intelligent than they truly were.

Yue's status as a pactio partner with Negi wasn't known outside Negi's slowly growing circle, so she knew she wasn't supposed to know any of that information. How she found out would make the faculty advisers to the Club smack their own heads with the realization of their carelessness.

She'd read about the club in her artifact.

When Yue discovered that Orbis Sensualium Pictus had information about the Library Exploration Club she eagerly read everything that was there. That included various blog entries about the status of the room she was entering now, the location of the real sorting room, as well as a collection of volumes that was currently being indexed in that room. There was also a map of the lower levels that was far more detailed than the maps that they had 'borrowed' for the trip to find the book that would improve their scholastic abilities. Yue smiled slightly as she remembered the Baka Expedition with Negi to try to find that book.

'At least the main sorting room has air conditioning,' Yue thought as she unlocked the door. 'This room really needs more than a single window.'

She entered the room through the 'Custodial Supplies' door, after first checking to see that she was unobserved, and headed to the only window. She worked it open and savored the fresh air blowing in through the gap. "Much better," she said.

Yue set her school bag and juice carton on the table, then turned to the small bookshelf closest to the door, and saw that it was nearly full. "Good thing I came up here. These need to be sorted so we have more room." She gathered up several books and carried them to the table.

After skimming through a few of the books and writing summaries for each, Yue placed them in a different bookcase, then departed to get more juice. When she returned, she resumed her work.

When the sun started to go down, Yue stretched and finished the summary she was writing. As she cleaned the area she heard a quiet buzzing noise. She lifted her head and started to look around, but as she did the fluorescent light flickered.

Yue sighed. "The light must be about to burn out. I'll let the Club President know," she reasoned. Before she locked up, she shut the window, then turned out the light.

Had she stayed a moment longer, she would have heard the buzzing again in the darkness.

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Nimrod Notes

For those that want to read more, or at least see the Research, here is the Cracked article: wwwDOTcrackedDOTcom/article_19456_ #ixzz1qB54vZCv

Yes, I am still working on this. I probably should be working on _A Stultus Pulchram Story_ or _Joker in the Deck_, but I focused on this chapter for this month. I had it almost finished last year, so it was easy for me to finish with the addition of a few details.

For those of you worrying that I am not updating _Joker in the Deck_ fast enough, let me admit that I am having minor difficulties keeping Issei in character. I have read the first two volumes of the light novels on the Baka Tsuki site, and am still trying to read more so I can keep the characters true to the original author's intentions.

It is proving to be more difficult than I had imagined. But I am working on it. Have faith.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: Negima does not belong to me. It belongs to Ken Akamatsu. But he graciously lets all of us torment his characters in various ways.

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Chapter 3 Worries

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_You knew the job was dangerous when you took it. _\- Super Chicken

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The next day, Dean Konoe stood in his office looking out the window in the direction of the World Tree. He had a full view of the tree due to it being at the top of a hill, and matters had been arranged so that none of the academy buildings was built near the tree to obstruct the view. Given what the World Tree was guarding, it was a matter of practicality as compared to aesthetics.

When Mahora Academy was built around the World Tree, he had barely been born. Now both he and the tree were much older. However, Konoemon knew he was much closer to the end of his life than the World Tree was. He sighed as that thought went through his mind.

Most of the magically talented faculty wondered how he had inside knowledge on most everyone in Mahora Academy. They would be rather surprised to discover that the Dean had cast a spell on the World Tree quite some time ago.

The spell itself wasn't fancy. It was used by those that lived in forests in the Magical World as a defense against unexpected visitors. All it did was create a link between whatever tree the spell was cast on and the caster. The tree itself detected the life force (or in cases such as Evangeline's, the unlife) of those that were near it, then relayed the information to the caster. The caster then could use the link with the tree to detect other details about whoever was near the tree. A simple spell to create a passive sentry.

Those experienced with the spell usually added that the older the tree, the greater the distance the tree could sense, and the greater the detail of the information sent. Young trees had a range of a few feet, while older trees could sense the life force of those that passed within one hundred feet. Older trees could differentiate between animals and people, even going so far as to be able to tell a specific individual from someone else.

Considering the size, and thus the apparent age, of the World Tree, casting the spell on it would make it a very effective guardian. Doubly so considering what the World Tree contained.

However, when Dean Konoe tried to cast the spell on the World Tree, to his surprise it canceled it.

It took some time, but the Dean discovered that he had to convince the World Tree to let him cast the spell. He told the tree that the spell would be used to not only protect the Academy, but to protect it as well. That seemed to satisfy the tree enough to allow him to cast the spell.

The World Tree had the range of the entire Academy. The Headmaster could sense, with the help of the World Tree, everything and everyone inside the Academy. It overpowered him the first time he used the spell, such was the information the spell could send. He spent several days recovering from that experience, with the explanation to everyone that he had caught the flu. The magically talented faculty had been given a similar explanation when it happened. Over time, he became more accustomed to the amount of information the spell sent to him. He also learned how to use the spell to focus on individuals. He couldn't read their minds, but he could tell those with evil intent from everyone else around them.

There was a price to pay for the spell though. Dean Konoe paid it gladly.

He was fairly certain that if anyone were to see him talking to the World Tree as he did twice a week, they might think he needed to be in a home for the aged. But talk to it he did, as he felt that the tree was the only thing that listened to him complain about everything. Talking to Evangeline was one thing, but talking to the World Tree made him feel much better. It didn't offer snarky remarks for one thing. It also did not make him perform the Dance of Ultimate Humiliation if he lost a game of Go.

He liked to think that he had been a faithful guardian and protector of the World Tree. Apparently it thought otherwise. The spell he had cast upon it many years ago had been canceled at the time the tree had summoned something. He knew it had done so, but what it had summoned he had no idea. The idea unsettled him.

He'd noticed shortly after that the World Tree was slowly repelling people. It was gradual, but since it had taken some sort of action, he had noticed that people no longer climbed it or loitered near the base. Instead they sat several feet from the tree. If things continued, the students would be sitting on the benches that had been placed in a circle well away from the tree, roughly halfway down the side of the hill the tree grew upon by the end of tomorrow.

He had walked to it earlier that afternoon, just after classes had let out for the day. It had taken a little effort to do so, as the tree was beginning to manifest its repelling ability. He had stood there beside it and asked it what had happened. The answer that he got was surprising.

'Wood borers,' it had said in his mind. It would not elaborate or say anything more. That bothered Konoemon no end, especially when he noticed several of the holes drilled into the tree. A quick examination showed that the holes were manmade, as the holes were uniform in size.

He felt defenseless. Not only was his spell gone, but now the sentry he had depended on for many years had decided to take matters into its own hands so to speak.

As he stared at the World Tree through the office window, he decided to make three calls. Three very long distance calls.

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Nimrod Notes

Work is progressing. Just not on what I want it to progress on.

I might be finished with Chapter 4 of this before the end of the year. We shall see. I know this isn't popular, but I am updating it all the same.


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